The New Testament Israel
Pastor Sheldon Emry
According to the Bible, the descendants of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to take the light
of God's Word to the ends of the earth; and to be
a blessing to all the other races of the world.
World Christian missions bave been carried out
primarily by the so-called Gentile races of
Europe and North America. Is it possible that
these people of Europe and of America are fulfilling other prophecies about Israel also?
Israelites, that it is a record of the history of
Israel, that God made the covenants with Israel,
that the law was given to Israel; and that when it
speaks of future events, those events are things
which were to come to pass in and to the Israel
people. One still gets agreement when one points
out that the New Testament was also written by
Israelites, that it is a record of the history of
Jesus Christ, as He came to Israel. That the New
Testament refers to a New Covenant to be made
with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.
And that there is much in the New Testament
writings about the prophetic future of the Israel
people: However, these same clergymen who
will agree with you so far on that, will then proceed to enter their pulpits, or speak on the radio,
and will speak over and over about the New
Testament being for the Christians, and the Old
Testament being for the Jews.
I am going to demonstrate that the New
Testament, which Christians accept as a divinely-inspired part of the Bible, is addressed to
these same descendants of Abraham we've been
reading about in the Old Testament (in the booklet The Old Testament Christians). It is rather
common today in theological circles to divide
the Bible into two parts, and take the first part,
that portion written before Christ, and say, Oh,
that was all written to the Jews; and then take the
second part, that portion written after the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and say, that is
addressed to Gentile Christians.
So I propose to point you to a number of passages in the New Testament which should make
it plain that the New Testament is as much of an
Israelitish book or message from God to Israel,
as is the Old. And further, that you Christians
may see that God is actually identifying you as
Israelites, children of Abraham, the inheritors of
the Covenants and the promises written in the
Old Testament.
However, many ministers and most Bible
students, do recognize that the writers of the
New Testament continually refer to the Old
Testament as the basis for their New Testament
doctrines, and in fact quoted Old Testament
prophecies scores of times, in their explanations
of Jesus Christ, and their own prophecies of
events to come. The New Testament foundation
is the Old Testament. The confusion lies, not so
much in dividing the Bible into two books, but in
totally separating them, and not making it plain
to the people that the latter part is really a continuation of the first part, and that the New
Testament is written to, and written about the
same people: the people called Israel.
When I first announced the availability of
our movie “Heirs of The Promise,” I read
Galatians 3:29 an often quoted verse from the
New Testament. “And if ye be Christ's, then are
ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise.”
I said this then, and it bears repeating:
Millions of people in Europe and America attend
Christian churches and claim to be Christians. In
effect they say they are Christ's. But if you were
to ask them, how that makes them Abraham's
One gets little argument, when one points
out that the Old Testament was written by
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seed, and what are the promises which they are
to inherit, very few would be able to give you a
cogent answer.
Jesus, who was descended in His humanity from
father Abraham Heb 2:17.
Then are listed His human ancestry, every
one of them an Israelite, except of course,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those three are not
Israelites. They can be called Hebrews, since
their ancestor was Heber, but only those following Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel,
can really be called Israelites.
In our movie HEIRS OF THE PROMISE,
which I narrate, I read the promises in the Bible,
that God made to Abraham, and I point out that
we, yes, we Christians, have been blessed as
God kept those promises to us, that those promises have been kept in and among the Christian
peoples of Europe, North America, Australia,
New Zealand and South Africa. Usually. with
most of our people not even realizing tbat God is
blessing us, because of what He promised He
would do with Abraham's seed.
I've heard some call Abraham a Jew, when in
point of fact, Abraham was not even an Israelite!
No one in the Bible is even called by the name
'Jew' until 2 Kings 16:6, which was 900 years
after Abraham was dead. (And the Jews were at
war with Israel). Anyway, the New Testament
begins by tracing Jesus back to Abraham.
Matthew 2:6, the wise men tell Herod that Jesus
was come to rule over Israel. After Jesus began
to preach, He chose twelve disciples, all
Israelites, and we read in Matthew 10:6, that He
commanded them to go “to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.”
In my own city of Phoenix Arizona, I often
hear ministers quote Isaiah 35: 1 about how the
desert of Israel would blossom as the rose. Then
they refer to the Jews irrigating several hundred
thousand acres of desert in Palestine. They
apparently forgot — or never knew — that we
have more land under irrigation in our county,
yes, in Maricopa County, Arizona than do the
Jews in all of Palestine. In addition, Christians in
many lands. especially in North America, have
irrigated millions of acres of desert land.
Christians from Europe have been the organizers
and sponsors of great irrigation works in North
Africa, the Middle East, Australia and the subcontinent of Asia. The desert blossomed as the
rose under Christian hands not in a few thousand
acres, but in tens of millions of acres across the
earth.
The gospel of Mark begins in chapter 1: 1-2
by telling us that Jesus came as it is written in the
prophets. Those prophets of course, were
Israelites. Luke begins his narrative with some
family background of John the Baptist and Jesus,
and in verse 17 of chapter 1, be records that the
angel said of John “And he shall go before him
in the spirit and power of Elias. to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the Just; to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Luke 1:17
Isaiah 35: 1 seems to have had a greater fulfillment in those people claiming they are
Christ's and therefore Abraham's seed, than in
the people who claim to be Abraham's seed, but
who reject Jesus Christ. But I am getting ahead
of my story. Take your Bible and follow with
me, and I use the KJV, follow with me in the
New Testament. Just a few of the many passages
to prove the New Testament is an Israelite book.
First verse in the New Testament, Matthew 1:1,
identifies it as “the book of the generations of
Jesus Christ the son of David the son of
Abraham.” So Matthew is writing a book about
Now who were the people John would prepare for the Lord, or for Jesus Christ? Well, the
verse just before this tells us, vs 16: “And many
of the children of Israel shall he turn to the
Lord their God.”
Now taking that in the context of the rest of
the New Testament, the angel certainly meant
that many Israelites would believe in Jesus
Christ and would become Christians. When?
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Sometime in the future'! No! Back at the time
when Jesus came to walk on the earth. That same
chapter quotes a long prophecy by John's father
about Jesus Christ, why Jesus came, and what
Jesus would accomplish. Now you folks who
think that the New Testament is not addressed to
Israel, you listen to this. In verse 68 of Luke 1,
it says, Zecbarias was filled with the Holy
Ghost, and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and
redeemed his people.”
dants would be delivered from their enemies. It
doesn't say a thing about delivering any socalled gentiles to heaven. but delivering Israel
from her enemies.
The last verse in Luke 1 verifies that John
the Baptist came to Israelites, to prepare the way
of Jesus Christ. “And the child grew, and waxed
strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the
day of his shewing unto Israel.” Luke 1:80
In Luke 2, after Jesus was born, he was
taken by His parents to the temple to be dedicated according to the Mosaic Law, you can read
that in verse 22-24, and while there, a man
named Simeon appeared at the temple. Vs 2526: “And, behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the
same man was just and devout, waiting for the
consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was
upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the
Holy Ghost, that he should not see death,
before he had seen the Lord's Christ.”
Luke 2:26
Now, who are God's people? Well the Israelites, of course! verse 69: “And hath raised up an
hom of salvation for us (and remember
Zacharias was an Israelite, for US
ISRAELITES) in the house of his servant
David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy
prophets. which have been since the world
began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To
perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and
to remember his holy covenant; The oath
which he sware to our father Abraham,”
Now notice Zacharias, who was a priest in
Israel, is saying that the coming of Jesus Christ
was directly related to God's promise, to keep his
covenant that He bad sworn to Father Abraham.
Now if you believe Galatians 3:29, makes you
as a Christian an inheritor of those promises to
Abraham, listen to what that promise or
covenant Zacharias was referring to was: “That
he would grant unto us, that we being delivered
out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear, In holiness and righteousness
before him, an the days of our life.” Luke 1:75
Now Christ means Messiah or redeemer. In
Luke 1:68, Zacharias said that God had visited
and redeemed His people. Now here is Simeon
identifying Jesus Christ as that redeemer, Israel's
Christ. vs. 27-32: “And he came by the Spirit
into the temple: and when the parents brought in
the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of
the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and
blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy
servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which
thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
A light to lighten the Gentiies, and the glory of
thy people Israel.”
How about that, this great prophecy of Jesus
Christ says that he came to keep the promise of
delivering Abraham's seed from the hand of their
enemies, that they might serve God. Oh, I
thought Jesus came so that when we died, we
might go to heaven? and live happily ever after.
At least that is what the evangelicals and the theologians tell us all the time. And yet, here, a
priest in Israel connects Jesus Christ to God's
promises to Abraham, that Abraham's descen-
The word gentiles in verse 32 comes from
the Greek word “Ethnos” it means 'nations'. So
Simeon was saying that Jesus was to be through
Israel a light to lighten the nations. And
Christians from Europe and North America,
have printed and carried the gospel of Jesus
Christ to every nation on earth in the last centuries. It is through them, these so-called gentile
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Christians that Jesus has been a light to lighten
the nations. And if these Christians of Europe
and America are Abraham's seed, because of
Galatians 3:29 where we read “if ye be Christ's
then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.” If they are Abraham's seed,
then they are the Israel through whom it is fulfilled that Jesus was to be a light to the nations.
Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things. And, behold, I send the promise of my
Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of
Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from
on high.”
Luke 24:46-49
So in the little that we have read, the gospel
of Luke tells us that Jesus Christ came to Israel.
That he came as a result of prophecies to Israel.
That he came to keep promises and covenants
that God had made with Abraham and with
Israel. That Jesus Christ would then be preached
to all nations, through these Israelites who would
believe on Him. In Acts 1, Jesus said to these
same Israelite disciples, vs 8: “But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both In Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth.”
That same verse 32 in Luke 2, says that
Jesus would be “the glory of thy people Israel.”
The fulfillment of that phrase is also found in
Christendom. Jesus Christ is the glory of the
Christian peoples of Europe, America, Australia
and South Africa and New Zealand. Another
promise or prophecy to Israel fulfilled in
Christians. Can they be Israel?
Let us go on in our study proving the New
Testament is addressed to Israel. Jesus continually referred to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in His
teachings often quoting passages from the Old
Testament as He taught. In the last chapter of
Luke, after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to
the men on the road to Emmaus. They did not
recognize Him. When He asked them why they
were sad they replied, about the Jesus whom
they now thought to be dead, vs 21, of Luke 24.
“But we trusted that it had been he which
should have redeemed Israel: and beside all
this, to day is the third day since these things
were done.”
In Mark 16:15, These Israelite disciples
were told “Go ye into all the worId, and preach
the gospel to every creature.” Now these
prophecies have all come to pass. They have
been accomplished, by Christian Europeans and
Americans. They not only claimed the Bible,
both the Old and the New Testament as the book
of their religious faith. They have translated it
into almost every known tongue. They have
printed tens of millions of copies of it, and have
taken it to all nations and tribes of the earth, even
to the uttermost parts of the earth. Yet we are told
by the clergy, that these Europeans and
Americans are not Israelites. Did God make a
mistake in addressing these prophecies to Israel?
Was Jesus Christ a failure in His mission to
Israel? Did His commands get obeyed only by
the inadvertent happenstance of another race
doing what Jesus had instructed Israel to do? OR
are these people what Galatians 3:29 said they
are: “Abraham's seed and heirs according to
the promise.”
Their statement is proof they thought of
Jesus as the redeemer of Israel, which of course
He is called many times. In vs 44, after Jesus
revealed Himself to the rest of the men, He made
it plain to them that He, Jesus, was the fulfillment of prophecies made to Israel. Vs 44: “And
he said unto them, These are the words which I
spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that
all things must be fulfilled, which were written
in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in
the psalms, concerning me.” Jesus then speaks
of the future and of the mission His Israelite disciples were to accomplish: “And that repentance and remission of Sins should be preached
in his name among all nations, beginning at
Part 2.
We are comparing the history of the
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Christian people of Europe and North America,
Australia and South Africa with the Bible
prophecies about the descendants of Abraham.
God told Abraham in Genesis 17:4, “As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou
shalt be a father of many nations.”
Christendom is now on the defensive. In
America we are constanly told that Russia will
have adequate military power in a very few years
to win any war between Russia and America.
Those who tell us that, of course, take little stock
in the Bible, or in God Almighty. Perhaps any
future war will be a test of strength not between
Russia and America, but between Russia and
God. Think about that for a moment. But let's go
on reading in the New testament, to verify my
claim that the New Testament is addressed to the
Israel people.
Is it possible the nations of Christendom
which worship Abraham's God, are actually
those nations promised to come of father
Abraham? Earlier we read Gal 3:29 which
states: “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise.” This verse seems to make a direct
connection between those who claim to be
Christians and the inheritance of something
called here 'the promise.' During this study we
will be examining both Old and New Testament
passages to find out what that promise is, but
first, I said I wanted to demonstrate from the
New Testament which is that portion of the
Scripture claimed by most Christian churches as
their special religious book; that the New
Testament is addressed to the descendants of
Abraham, called Israelites, or the house of Israel.
And from that, later, I will prove that whether
they know it or not, those nations where
Christianity is the predominant religion, are fulfilling prophecies made to the seed of Abraham.
You should also get a copy of the “Study into
the meaning of 'Gentile' as used in the Bible.”
This is basic to understanding. the New
Testament. Millions of Christians are confused
about many New Testament passages, because
they have been taught the word ‘gentile’ means
non-Israelite. Such is not the case, it is not an
English word. it is a Latin word which for some
reason the King James translators used for the
Greek word “ethnos” and also for the Greek
word “hellen”. 'Ethnos' means literally
“nations”, and in most cases if one just reads
Gentiles as Nations it would make much more
sense. However, it is a little more complicated
than that, and you really should obtain this other
study . An example of the confusion is in John 7
where Jesus said to the Pharisees in verse 34,
“Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and
where I am, thither ye cannot come.”. He was
actually referring to His ascension into heaven,
but they didn't understand that, and we read in
the next verse, 35: “Then said the Jews among
themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall
not ftnd him? will he go unto the dispersed
among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?”
The word here is 'hellen' the ancient name for
Greece. It is a misfortune it was translated into
'gentile' for what they were saying according to
the original text is, “will he go to the dispersed
among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?”
We read several passages earlier, including
the long prophecy in Luke 1, which was made by
the priest Zachariah, father of John the Baptist;
where he said Jesus bad come “That we should
be saved from our enemies, and from the hand
of all that hate us; To perform the mercy
(promised) to our fathers, and to remember his
holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our
father Abraham,” Luke 1:68-73
Now, if we as Christians, are heirs of these
Abrahamic promises, and one of those promises
is that we would be saved from our enemies, and
from the hand of all that hate us; then if God
keeps promises, that would mean that the
Christian peoples would be delivered from their
enemies. Just consider the implications that has
in relation to the present world situation.
We have religious groups in America which
claim that Jesus came to the American Indians,
while He was here on the earth, and they quote
this passage as part of their 'proof that Jesus
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went “to the gentiles.” No! the word is 'hellen'
the ancient name for the land we today call
Greece, You will receive a great benefit from this
study on “Gentile” mentioned above. It is found
in the Sheldon Emry Memorial Library.
in heaven and in earth.”
Then, tying in that doctrine that Jesus has all
power, and that He is the King of Israel, with the
doctrine that Jesus came to confirm the promise
God had made to Abraham and to Israel, then we
would naturally assume, that the keeping of
God's promises to Israel has to be by and
through Jesus the Christ. So, it wouldn't be too
far fetched to look to the people who believe in
Jesus to see if the Abrahamic promises are being
fulfilled in them through Christ.
We read a few passages from Mark and Luke
which prove that Jesus Christ came to Israel.
Now turn to John. Chapter 1 begins by writing
about Jesus, and John the Baptist, and then in
verse 29-31 records the first meeting between
Jesus and John the Baptist: “The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith,
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said,
After me cometh a man which is preferred
before me: for he was before me. And I knew
him not: but that he should be made manifest
to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with
Water.” Manifest or made known [to ISRAEL}.
Not made known to all the world. or to nonIsraelites. John knew Jesus was to be known “to
Israel.” Now those who say the Jews are Israel,
tell us this has never come to pass. That the Jews
simply have not accepted Jesus. But strangely
enough, another race of people of Europe, if they
have any religion at all, profess Christianity, or
faith in Jesus Christ. So Jesus has been made
manifest, or made known, to this European race.
Another prophecy about Israel fulfilled in these
Europeans.
Later, as we read the Abrahamic promises,
we will see that this is what has happened. In Ch
5 of John, Jesus himself says the Old Scriptures
are written Him, but he also says in effect, that
one cannot understand and believe the New
Scriptures unless one believes the Old! Turn to
John 5, this is a long chapter, but we'll read only
the part where Jesus referred to the Old
Scriptures, or what we call the Old Testament. In
verse 39, he says to the Jewish Pharisees:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye
have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Then He tells the Jews why they do
not believe in Him, in verse 46- 47: “For had ye
believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for
he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” Here
Jesus states the vital importance of the Old
Scripture, and refutes what many modem evangelists preach today. They say, they can lead
people to believe in Jesus Christ using only the
New Testament. Jesus says NO! If ye believe
not the writings of Moses you will not believe
the words of Jesus.
In verse 45, we read of an Israelite by the
name of Philip saying to another Israelite,
Nathanael, “we have found him of whom Moses
in the law and the prophets did write.” John 1 In
vs 49, Nathanael upon meeting Jesus, says to
him, “Thou art king of Israel.” That title 'King
of Israel' is used for Yahweh God in the Old
Testament, so Nathanael equates Jesus Christ
with Yahweh. In John 3, John the Baptist is
questioned about Jesus Christ, and he says
among other things, in vs 35, “The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into
his hand.” That would corroborate Jesus' statement to His disciples in Matthew 28: 18 which
we read earlier “And Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me
Jesus verifies and emphasises this same
point, in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus
in Luke 16. Let's consider that for a moment.
You know the story: the rich man is in hell, and
he is speaking to father Abraham, to ask:
Abraham to send Lazarus to his 5 brethren, and
Abraham refuses saying, in Luke 16:29, “They
have Moses and the prophets; let them hear
them.” The rich man says; “And he said, Nay,
father Abraham: but if one went unto them
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from the dead, they will repent.” Luke 16:30
“And the Jews marvelled, saying, How
knoweth this man letters, having never
learned?” They thought a man had to go to their
seminary or college for many years before he
could teach. Yet, here, Jesus who as far as they
knew had never attended any of their religious
schools, was teaching the people. Jesus
answered by saying: “My doctrine is not mine,
but his that sent me.” In John 8:28 Jesus
repeats: “I do nothing of myself; but as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath
not left me alone; for I do always those things
that please him.”
In effect, the rich man says, No don't bother
with the Old Scriptures, just send some man who
has been resurrected from the dead to them and
then they will repent. Abraham replies, and
remember this is Jesus telling the story, so Jesus
is putting these words in Abraham's mouth. Here
is Abraham's reply: “And he said unto him, if
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded, though one rose from
the dead.” Luke 16:31
So, we have Jesus teaching us twice. Once in
John 5 and once in Luke 16 that men will not
believe Jesus except that they first believe
Moses and the prophets. Not only does this
refute the evangelists claim, they can teach
belief in Christ using only the New Testament, it
refutes the claim by the Jews that they can
believe the Old Testament while not believing
Jesus Christ! Jesus said to them in verse 46 of
John 5, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would
have believed me: for he wrote of me.” He is
saying plainly, the reason you Jews don't believe
me, is that you don't believe Moses. So we are
faced with a dilemma. If we believe Jesus in
John 5 and Luke 16, then we must doubt the
veracity of those who say they believe in Christ,
but ignore the Old Scriptures. And if we believe
Jesus words in John 5 and Luke 16, then we
cannot accept the claim of some that they can
deny Christ, but believe the Old Testament.
Jesus says, belief in one goes with belief in the
other. This confirms my statement made earlier,
that the Old Testament and Jesus Christ are inexorably connected. When we add that to what I
am now proving, that the New Testament is written to and about Israel, then we find that we cannot separate Christendom from Israel. In the
final analysis, Israel must be found in
Christianity. Let's go on in John. Turn back to
John 4, in vs 34 Jesus says; “My meat is to do
the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work.” John 6:38, “For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me.” Turn to John 7, in vs 14 we
read that Jesus is teaching, then in verse 15:
Now before we read on, let's sum up a little
about this Jesus we have heard so far. 1) Jesus
came because of the holy covenant, the oath that
God sware to father Abraham. 2) Jesus was to be
made known in Israel. 3) Jesus was the king of
Israel. 4) all power was given to Jesus in heaven
and on earth. 5) Belief in the Old Scriptutres and
belief in Jesus Christ can not be separated. 6) All
things that Jesus taught, His doctrine, was the
Father's doctrine. 7) Jesus came to do the will of
the Father. 8) Jesus came to finish the work of
the Father.
So, It can be stated without fear of contradiction that whatever it was that Jehovah God
promised, taught, or planned to do, in and to
Israel, according to the Old Scriptures, should be
exactly what Jesus, the Christ, intended to carry
out, teach, or complete in Israel with that total
power that was given Him in heaven and on
earth.
Now, that doesn't fit very well with what we
are taught in the modern church. The church
teaches, in effect, well Jesus did come to Israel,
but He just failed to convince them who He was,
so He couldn't carry out that plan and purpose of
God in those Israelites. So He and his disciples
gave up and they went off looking to see if some
other people might believe in Jesus, and luckily
they did find some gentiles, there around the
Mediterranean, and in Europe, and they were
able to convince some of them. So God appar7
ently settled for having His Bible taught by these
gentiles, and being worshipped by them, instead
of Israel. So He just stopped His prophetic timeclock, and quit causing any prophecies to come
to pass, and has bided His time for the last 1900
years, waiting until these gentiles goof up, and
then He’ll step in and straighten things out and
get back to His unfinished work among the
Israelites.
Is it possible that the descendants of Abraham,
have been made into the many nations prophesied in Genesis 17? Is it possible that God has
really blessed them, above all people upon the
face of the earth, as He said he would do to
Israel? Is it possible that we are looking at the
wrong people for the fulfilment of the Israel
prophecies. And that Israel, far from rejecting
Jesus Christ, and being an unbelieving people
for 1900 years, have instead believed on him by
untold millions, and that even today very few of
them worship any other god, but Jesus Christ.
That is true of course, only if the Anglo-Saxon Germanic - Scandinavian - Celtic and kindred
peoples of Europe, America, South Africa and
Australia, ARE THOSE ISRAELITES! For it is
among those people and in no others, that the
religion called Christianity has flourished. They
and they alone, believe the God of Israel. When
we see that, then and only then, can we look
across the earth and make sense out of history
and Bible prophecy.
Meanwhile of course, for 1900 years His
chosen people the Israelites have gone on defying Him, so as each generation of Israelites dies,
God snatches them on down to hell, where all of
these Israelites will spend the centuries of eternity, screaming and crying in pain and torture. It’s
too bad, God did have this covenant with
Abraham that would save these Israelite descendants of Abraham. But He just hasn’t been able
to do it, although He will try again, some time in
the future and may save a handful of them for the
Kingdom.
I guess, Jesus didn’t really mean it when He
said He had all power in heaven and on earth.
What He must have meant was, He had some
power in beaven, but not much on the earth. And
that in a nutshell — perhaps I’m being a little
facetious — is the Bible story as it is taught in
most of Christendom today. Not very flattering
to Jesus Christ, is it? And not very conducive to
convincing our young people that Jesus Christ
will do for them in the future, what we say He
will, since in the past He seems to have been a
total failure among the people He came to save.
When we read Galatians 3:29 to our children, “if
ye be Chtist’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and
heirs according to the promise.” How can we
ask them to believe they have any certain inheritance, when this God we ask them to trust has
been so totally unable to perform His previous
promises?
Part 3.
Let’s go on in the New Testament to see how
it tells us rather plainly that it was the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, who would
become Christians in this age.
In John 8:39, Jesus said to the Jewish
Pharisees, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye
would do the works of Abraham.” All churchgoers should know what Abraham’s works were,
Faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, is both an Old
Testament and a New Testament doctrine.
Abraham’s children would be children of the
faith. In John 10 Jesus said in Verse 14: “am the
good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am
known of mine.” Verse 27: “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish. neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand.” Israel is called ‘God’s
sheep’ in the Old Testament. Since Jesus came to
do the will of the Father, it would follow that the
sheep here must be Israel. This makes sense with
Has Jesus Christ really failed? Or is it possible that in our ignorance of just what these promises and prophecies about Israel were, that rather
than having failed, Jesus has instead brought to
pass just exactly what He prophesied He would.
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what follows, the next verse: “My Father, which
gave them me. is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
John 10:29 So these sheep were in the Father’s
hand, they were then given into Jesus’ hand, and
no man can take them away from either Jesus or
the Father. Now, the people we know as Jews are
NOT in Jesus’ hand, they are not Christians, they
have not followed this Good Shepherd, and yet
Jesus said the sheep the Father had were given to
Him and they would follow Him. That must
mean the Jews were not the sheep, and that the
present Christian people are those sheep. Those
peoples that God had as His sheep prior to Christ
and gave to Christ. Other wise this too, has failed
and Jesus was wrong. The book of Acts is a
study in itself of this question as to which people
became Christians. We know the disciples were
Israelites, and it is certain that most if not all of
Jesus’ followers referred to in the Gospels were
Israelites. And in the beginning of the book of
Acts, on the day of Pentecost, we hear Peter
address that crowd in this manner, he calls them:
“Ye men of Israel,” Acts 2:22. And in verse 41
We read: “Then they that gladly received his
word were baptized: and the same day there
were added unto them about three thousand
souls.” Acts 2:41
children of the prophets, and of the covenant
which God made with our fathers,” In verse 26
he says: “Jesus, was sent to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities.”
They believed, they repented and they became
Christians. As we read on in the book of Acts,
more Israelites are converted. Five thousand are
numbered. And other groups are not numbered,
so the total would be much more. That was nineteen hundred years ago. Just the present day
descendants of these few thousand Christian
Israelites here, not counting the Christian
Israelites in Rome, Galatia, Corinth, Ephesus,
and so on, would number in the millions today.
Are we to believe that these descendants all left
the Christian faith and joined the religion of
Judaism, and that today none of the progeny of
these Israelites are still Christian? That is nonsense! It is obviously more probable that they
ARE Christians, and that they just do not know
that they are descended from these ancient
Israelite Christians, since they have gone under
the name Christians for so many centuries in
Europe and America.
In Acts 6:7 we find that conversions of the
Israelites to the Christian faith was so great, that
“a great number of the priests were obedient to
the faith, And the word of God increased; and
the number of the disciples multiplied in
Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the
priests were obedient to the faith.” How many
of us miss these passages and believe the ministers when they tell us, ‘Oh the Israelite priests
and the Israelite people in Jerusalem and in
Judea just didn’t accept Jesus and they turned
away, and they are still not Christians today.’
That is NOT true. Israelites were converted in
great numbers in those first years, according to
the book of Acts; and even men of the priesthood.
Before they were baptized and after Peter
called them Israelites, he told them in vs 38 and
39: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto you. and to your Children, and
to all that are afar off, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call.” He said to these
Israelites: Become Christians, for the promise is
unto you and to your children. This indicates the
promise was racial. It was to that generation of
Israelites, and to the generations of Israelites that
followed. Then we read of three thousand of
these Israelites becoming Christians. In later
passages in the book of Acts we read of thousands more becoming Christians. In Acts 3:12
Peter again calls his listeners, “Ye men of
Israel” and in vs 25 he says to them: “Ye are the
You should read all of the book of Acts with
this in mind. In several places it is recorded that
entire cities came to hear the stories of Jesus, and
most if not all of them were converted and
became Christians. By the time of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 70AD, most of
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the people of Judea and Samaria were divided
into two religions. Christianity and what was
known as Phariseeism. Some of us are convinced by history and by Bible prophecy that all
of the Israelites became Christian, and it was the
non-Israelites who retained the religion of
Phariseeism. Persecution of the Israelite
Christians by the non-Israelite followers of
Phariseeism was then responsible for driving out
of the Israelites from Judea and Samaria in the
years between 35 AD and 70 AD. As they left
Palestine they took the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ with them. We read of this as early
as chapter 8 of Acts, and it says in vs 4:
“Therefore they that were scattered abroad
went every where preaching the word.” Acts
8:4 They scattered over the eastern end of the
Mediterranean, into Greece, into Rome and
other areas. That is why Paul and the other apostles could travel and find Christian communities
wherever they went, and those communities
were Israelites. Not necessarily ‘gentile’ as we
call so many Christians today. When we also
find the word ‘gentile’ means ‘nation’ or
‘nations’, then we can see that when Paul said he
was going to the gentiles, he meant he was going
to the nations of Israel. This is explained in some
detail in the tract “A Study into the meaning of
the word ‘Gentile’ as Used in The Bible”. Paul
went to the nations of Israel, who had been dispersed by the Assyrians in the centuries before
Christ, and at the same time, the converted
Israelites from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria,
were being driven out, so they also helped
spread the gospel of Jesus Christ rapidly into the
Mediterranean area of Europe. We can verify
that these Christian groups were Israelites by
reading the epistles in the New Testament to see
to whom they are addressed. The best known
one on this of course is James, which begins:
“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting.” James 1: 1
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them
that know the Iaw,)” Now who of all the people
of the earth would know the Law? “He sheweth
his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with
any nation: and as for his judgments, they have
not known them. Praise ye the Lord.” Psalm
147:19, 20 Only Israelites! No others had the
law. This and other passages verify that the
Roman Christians were Israelites. (see also
Romans 9)
Turn to 1 Cor 10. In the first chapters Paul
addresses them as believers, then here we read in
vs 1: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye
should be ignorant, how that all our fathers
were under the cloud, and all passed through
the sea;” He is referring to the Red Sea and the
cloud of Glory with which God overshadowed
Israel as they came out of Egypt. So he is writing to believers at Corinth, that is in Greece, and
he says THEIR fathers passed through the Red
Sea. That means the believers at Corinth had to
be Israelites. Turn to Galatians. This is a little
more confusing, partly because of the use of the
word gentiles, from the Greek ‘ethnos’ where it
really means ‘nations’, but we still have in that
letter evidence that the Galatian Christians were
Israelites. “But when the fulness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, To redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons.” Gal 4:5 Who was under
the law? Only Israel! Who therefore was
redeemed? Israelites! To receive what? The
adoption of sons, as Israelites! So the Galatian
Christians were Israelites by race. The next letter
Ephesians is fun of symbolic phrases which
identify its subjects as Israelites. In chapter 1
they are called “predestinated,” “chosen” the
“purchased possession” and so on. Then in vs 1
of chapter 2 he says to them, speaking of Christ:
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins;” Again, the presence of the
law identifies them as Israelites for in 1 John 3:4
we read that “sin is transgression of the law.”
And in Romans 4: 15, “for where no law is.
there is no transgression.” In order to be trans-
In Romans 1:6 Paul calls them “the called
of Jesus Christ:” in verse 7 he calls them
‘Saints’ and in Chapter 7 he identifies them by
his words as Israelites. Rom 7:1, be writes:
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gressors these Ephesians had to have the Law.
Again, only Israel had the law. In Chapter 2 is
also the passage about these people being reconciled to the household of God, by the blood of
Christ. You would not use the term reconciled to
anyone who had not once been a part of the
group, had been alienated, and now bought back
again or reconciled. Remember that at other
times I’ve shown how Israel became God’s wife
at Mount Sinai, then because of her adultery and
worshipping other gods, she was divorced and
cast off.
the New Testament is written to and about
Israelites. I believe that you can see from what
little we have covered here that the New
Testament is a record of the conversion to
Christianity of most of the Israelites who heard
the Gospel. Then of their diligence in carrying
that gospel on to other Israelites who were then
converted. So that within a few decades of the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, most of
the Israelites in the eastern end of the
Mediterranean had become Christians and were
no longer called Israelites, Jews or Judeans. I
believe that process continued.
Now, Jesus, through his shed blood, has
effected a reconciliation, between God and
God’s divorced wife Israel. Israel is reconciled.
We do not use the term reconcile to describe a
first time marriage between two parties. The
term is used only to describe a re-uniting after a
separation. Throughout the New Testament,
therefore, whenever the term ‘reconcile’ or ‘reconciliation’ is used, it can refer only to divorced
and cast off Israel being brought back through
the Christian faith. In addition, there is no
prophecy that Christ in this age would convert a
people or a nation of non-Israelites. But instead
that He would convert the Israelites that is what
was happening as the book of Acts and these letters testify.
However, most ministers today try and tell
us that all of the world’s Israelites are followers
of a religion called Judaism, and that they number only a few millions of people. In order for
that doctrine to be true, that would mean that in
the centuries since the book of Acts and the New
Testament were written, all of these Christian
Israelites would have had to abandon
Christianity. denounce Jesus Christ, turn back to
the religion of Phariseeism, and resist almost to
a man reconversion back to Christianity. In that
case, their quick and seemingly almost spontaneous acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in
the first century, bardly makes sense, either from
a rational or from a prophetic standpoint.
No! The only thing that makes sense is that
these Israelites did become Christian, and they
now number in the tens and hundreds of millions, in Europe, North America, South Africa,
Australia and New Zealand. And that although
millions are not diligent in their obedience: to
the Christian gospel. still they have not turned to
religions such as Judaism which are in opposition to Jesus Christ.
The letters to the Philippians, Colossians,
Thessalonians, Timothy and so on, do not have
clear cut passages which can be pointed to, and
say, see these are Israelites. But they follow the
same pattern as the others, in using the names for
Israel such as ‘saints’, ‘brethren’, ‘sons of God’,
‘elect’, ‘peculiar people’, and so on. The letter to
the Hebrews by its title and contents is addressed
to Israelites. Then follows James: “James, a
servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad,
greeting.” James 1:1 James not only identifies
them as Israelites. but as scattered tribes, or the
dispersed tribes. Since James’ letter was written
years before the dispersion of the Jews in 70AD,
it is also proof that the dispersion of Israel had
taken place prior to the dispersion of the Jews.
You should read in conjunction with this
booklet, its companion, The Old Testament
Christians. You can read of the covenants God
made with Abraham, with Isaac and with Israel,
and compare the history of these people of
Christian Europe and Christian America to see if
we have been fulfilling these prophecies about
Israel. You get it and read it from the address
herein.
Pastor Sheldon Emry
I think that is enough for now to prove that
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Transcribed from sermon tape No. 7927
All scripture reference is quoted from
the King James version of the Bible.
http://www.sheldonemrylibrary.com
12
The New
Testament
Israel
by Sheldon Emry